Food storage containers come in many different varieties, and are a common item for kitchen and restaurant use. In the home, they are typically made of plastic, designed to be sealed by a fitted interlocking of the container and a removable lid. Examples of these type of containers are known by their tradenames and trademarks, such as Tupperware, Rubbermaid, Zip-Lock and others. These are generally designed so that the sealing of the lid and container maintain an airtight seal as much as possible, to insure freshness of the stored food contents over a period of time.
Restaurants also use food storage containers, such as aluminum foil containers or paper containers, plastic, etc. The containers may have various shapes, such as round or rectangular. These containers are typically used for food prepared by the restaurant and meant for home or hotel delivery, or as take-out orders by customers who enter the restaurant. Along with the term “restaurant” is included a wide range of various types of food establishments, including the popular types of hamburger eateries, fish restaurants and pizza stores, etc.
Aluminum foil containers are typically designed with a peripheral vertical flange which can be folded over to retain a foil-backed or paper lid, and although this type of closure may not be airtight, the closed container is useful for storage of food under controlled conditions such as in a refrigerator. Even without the use of a refrigerator to maintain food freshness as a function of temperature, the aluminum foil container is an effective way of storing food for short periods. For example, aluminum foil containers are used for delivery of food by a food establishment, such as take-out orders, where the prepared food is shipped in the foil container and meant for immediate consumption in the home once delivered.
In this use of foil containers for delivery of prepared food, the food establishment typically has a stock of these containers and lids in the kitchen area to be used by the food preparation staff. Once the food preparation staff places the prepared food in the foil container, the lid must be placed over the container before the container can be delivered. In cases where hot food is being prepared, it is important to close the food container as quickly as possible, in an attempt to retain the heat within the closed container. In many cases, the food preparer simply bends the vertical flange using his or her fingers, but this is unsafe since the sharpness of the foil edge presents the risk of injury by cuts to the fingers. The task of closing the foil container quickly has been simplified by the use of hand-held tools, developed specifically for this use.
Examples of prior art tools used for closing or sealing food containers are published in the following US patents and/or patent applications, and design patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,170,862 to Lazure discloses a device or tool for crimping the lid of a container onto the container;
U.S. Pat. No. 2,784,543 to Barr discloses a tool for sealing a container in which a ring is placed onto the top of the lid and then pressed around the circumference of the lid, sealing it;
US Pat. Appln. 2003/0205032 to Guiliano et al. discloses a tool for pressing closed a foil or aluminum lid onto a container;
U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,174 to Heisler discloses a crimping or pressing tool for manually pressing an aluminum lid onto a container;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,796 to Pope discloses a hand-held tool for closing a food storage bag in which the edge of the bag is pinched between the tool and then pulled along the edge of the bag, sealing it; and
U.S. Design Pat. No. 386,654 to Kosmyna illustrates a design for a tool to seal a plastic food storage container.
The hand-held tools described above are generally designed for hand manipulation when applied to the container to enable bending, folding or pushing a sealing portion of the container design into contact with another surface, such as the edge of a lid or other portion of the container, to close it.
The Guiliano et al tool is shaped as a rod having a wheel attached at one end, and the wheel is shaped to engage a peripheral flange of a round aluminum foil container body and bend and crimp it, so as to close it against the outer edge of the lid. The wheel provides a single point of contact with the container flange at any moment, and the wheel is manipulated to roll around the container perimeter. Because of its design, the single point of contact must be maintained between the wheel and the container flange, or else during the manipulation, the wheel slips off the container flange, and must be relocated to complete the task of rolling around the perimeter. This slows the procedure of closing the lid onto the container, and requires multiple relocations.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a hand tool for closing a container lid onto the container, in a quick, efficient and easy to perform hand manipulation.